Alexis Levinson

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at a press conference on Wednesday that he wants to change the rules governing the use of the filibuster.

“The rules have been abused, and we’re going to work to change them,” Reid told reporters.

“We’re not going to do away with the filibuster,” Reid clarified, “but we’re going to make the Senate a more meaningful place.”

Republicans have used the filibuster in the current Congress to hold up certain bills they oppose, a move that effectively blocks the bills from becoming legislation because Democrats lack the 60 votes required to override the filibuster.

The Democrats will not have a filibuster-proof majority in the next Senate, either.

Reid decried “gridlock” politics and said voters on Tuesday had rejected destructive Republican attempts to sabotage President Barack Obama’s agenda.

“[The] ‘Well, I have one goal, defeat Obama,’ that’s gone,” Reid said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks in a 2010 interview with National Journal that ”the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

“That’s how he legislated out there for two years,” Reid claimed, adding that he looked forward to more compromise from the next Congress.